Ticketed driver should accept consequences for actions

This letter is in response to Jo Marchisotto of East Brunswick, whose letter to the editor, “Resident Pays High Price for Overdue Sticker” appeared in the March 31 issue of the Sentinel.

Ms. Marchisotto wrote: “Warning: Check the decal on your windshield. It may be time for your car to be inspected.” She should have stopped right there, if her intent was to provide a warning for others to avoid paying a fine for an expired inspection sticker. I was bemused upon reading the remainder of the letter, finding no legitimate justification for the failure to have her vehicle inspected in a timely manner. To berate the entire borough of Highland Park for her lack of responsibility was an overreaction on her part.

Ms. Marchisotto, laws are indeed “made to help maintain a civil and fair society,” as you wrote. That includes traffic laws that apply to each one of us. Why you don’t think you deserved the ticket is beyond me, when you admitted the error yourself.

Don’t blame the officer or Highland Park (“... I will never spend another cent in that town ...”) or anyone else but yourself for your failure to remember to have your car inspected. You might have gotten nabbed in South River, or East Brunswick, or New Brunswick or any other town in which the police officers are charged with seeing that traffic laws are obeyed.

Grownups accept the consequences of their actions. I might suggest that you get yourself some self-stick notes or a red pen to circle your calendar for the next inspection date, rather than whine to the public that the officer should have singled you out for an exception and let you go with a warning. That officer was only doing what she’s paid to do, and that is indeed “fair and civil.”

Marge Hansen

South River